Chapter 31

For the Record

I wonder where I'd end up, on the Star Wars moral scale?

See, I'm tempted to think I'd end up a Sith, due to the things I've done... But I actually think I'd fit the bill for a Gray Jedi, better. Those guys straddled the dividing line between light and dark side, seriously. Granted: Maybe I'd lean a bit more to the dark side than the light - again, because of the things I've done/will do - but I don't think I'd be full on Sith, because of my intentions and Batman-level dedication to them, and I definitely wouldn't be Light Side Jedi, because... No explanation needed.

So... Yeah, Gray Jedi.
Call me Aldric the Gray.
Now all I need is a pipe and some good ol' Hobbit Weed. You! Shall not! Paaaaaaaaaaass!

All that to say: I slipped out of my dorm yesterday to work with the Power Glove, and... Zhoom!

Now, I'll admit, I actually had second thoughts, after it worked exactly like Ozpin said it would (or... Is working? Was? I dunno.). The shield I made, yeah, that's dangerous, but it's far better as a defensive instrument than it is as a offensive one. You can work around it, and you can take some hits from it.

But this fucking thing? Holy hell, I'd rather take a direct hit from Ruby's rifle again than take my chances with it. It isn't a tool for defense, it's a weapon of power. I'm almost willing to bet that it could cleave through pretty much any and all aura shields in one shot, unless your opponent was strong enough. I pull that thing out, I'm making a statement: The gloves are off, and I'm going for the kill.

Thank god it has a low power setting so I can train with it (still burns and hurts like a BITCH though. Don't ask how I know this.), else I'd have put far more consideration into letting it go.

But now that this worked, man - the opportunities with the Glove were endless originally, but now they're even more so. I know I haven't experimented with it as much now as I used to, but that's primarily because, A: I haven't had the time since Amber, or B: I've been playing Goud Etiolate, who wields the mighty shield, not the Green Lantern's ring.

And while I'm definitely excited about this, it also worries me tremendously. What is the limit, here? Is there one? Can I really just... Pull anything I want out of fiction, because I want it? That kind of power is... That's infinity gauntlet, shit. That's Doctor Manhattan levels of over fucking powered. That's the kind of stuff that would make Saitama excited that he might get a good fight!
I never actually thought my wasting my free time reading up on fictional lore would actually have any fucking use!

Once again: That kind of wish fulfillment makes me think I'm either in a coma, or in a universe that makes no sense, but I've said this to death.

Even if I stick solely to weapons/items that would have no detrimental effects (ala the Nanosuit bonding with me), I could create a Black Panther vibranium suit of armor, the BFG and the Piece of Eden I mentioned earlier, the Master Sword and the Hylian shield - shit, anything from Zelda, really - Senator Armstrong's Nanomachines (son!), the Boss' Patriot assault rifle (unlimited ammo!), Raiden's high-frequency blade, Isaac Clarke's RIG, Fallout's Fat Man nuke-launcher, WH40K's bolters, one of those bullet proof Kingsman suits with the dope-ass top hat... The Point-of-View gun from Hitchhiker's Guide - the possibilities are goddamn endless!

Especially if I apply it to scientific concepts, and pull a tesseract (or any object above three dimensions!) out of my ass, or create a ten pound chunk of antimatter and chuck it at Salem's head. Or, fuck - I could shoot her ass with a Gamma Ray Burst, see how she dealt with that.
Yeah, that'd kill everything on the planet and probably kill everything in the general vicinity of 'the direction I'm pointing at the time', but it's the point that matters.
Jesus fucking Christ, if I wanted to double down on the 'kill everything too' thing, I could initiate a False Vacuum and fuck up the whole entire UNIVERSE.

Or even less science-based concepts. I could astral project my ass to the other side of the planet, or clone myself, Dr Manhattan style.

And what the hell is stopping me from thinking 'Machine that solves all of my problems' really really really hard?

Choking some poor girl out in her bed would literally be the least I could do, with this kind of power.

And think of this - Ozpin, with far more power and far more control over it than I have now, has been warring against Salem for millennia, and still hasn't won.
There has to be something I'm missing. Absolutely has to be, unless Ozpin really is right, and the primary reason he hasn't been able to win is simply because there is no free flow of information on Remnant, and as such he hasn't had access to nearly as much shit as I did, on Earth.

Fuck, the more I learn about my powers, the more I fear I'm turning into a walking weapon of mass destruction.

Anyways... Last little tid-bit: I forget the fuck out of her name, but I think I saw that lizard chick from the end of Volume 4 prowling about, staking out Blake. Maybe it's because I see everything, but she seemed to be obvious about it... Though considering Taurus, I wouldn't doubt that was on purpose, so he could prompt me to get in contact with him.
So obviously I called her on it, and told her to tell Taurus to set up a meeting with me, through Torchwick.
This'll be the first 'all hands on deck' meeting of the minds on the Legion of Doom end of the Watchmen, that'll be a sight. But it'll allow me and Taurus to touch base, will show Torchwick exactly how far my reach extends, and allow the three of us to all get on the same page in regards to our efforts against Cinder.

I think after that, I bring up the possibility of getting all of the Watchmen under one roof, with me acting as the mediator between the Legion of Doom half [Torchwick and Taurus] and the Justice League half [Ozpin and Qrow].

'Till next time.

As the week progressed, Aldric's days quickly settled into a routine. The morning classes, lunch, the evening classes, dinner, and then sparring practice with whoever the day had been dedicated to; Beacon didn't just have one major ring for the fights - that was just for the combat lessons - it had hundreds of buildings, stretching out across so much land that Aldric was pretty sure one could fit a small city in that space, and it was filled with training rings of all shapes and sizes, it was actually quite impressive. After the sparring matches and practice sessions were over, the last few hours of the night were spent on homework and assignments, until it was time to sleep.

Aldric typically spent another hour awake, on his Rock, experimenting with more things he could 'will' into being with the Power Glove, and even when he wasn't deliberately seeing what he could pull from fiction, and was just seeing what other simple objects the glove itself could make, he still felt a distinct lack of a weight on his shoulders as he did so. It was freeing, in its own way, to get back to experimenting like this, though most everything he successfully made quickly vanished afterwards - he just didn't have the means of hiding an arsenal like the one he was gaining access to, not without some kind of Batcave, or a vault of some sort.

After that hour ran dry, then he'd join everyone else in his sleep.

On the first three days of the week, he spent the sparring days with his team, as they worked to familiarize eachother with how they all fought, and learn how to apply that against other teams. It was through these private team sessions that Srebro's 'zweihander', Skye, wasn't just a huge enormous sword - the thing looked like some kind of nightmarish combination between Guts' Dragon Slayer, and Cloud's Buster Sword, and even without her using her semblance to make it hit like a medieval siege engine, it still weighed a ton, and could take chunks out of the ring on accident.

Still didn't do a damn thing to his shield, though, something he felt a little proud of, and which actually prompted a good hour of GEMS doing absolutely nothing but hitting Aldric's shield with everything they had to see how much punishment it could take. They had to stop when Ecru strapped one of the Lovely Lady's rockets onto Srebro's sword, and Srebro hit the shield so hard that the sound of the impact could be heard from the city, and the shockwave sent everyone else flying - Myrtle almost through the wall entirely. Goodwitch actually came in to interrupt their practice at that one, and wasn't pleased at the state of the ring the impact had left it in. Aldric was deaf in one ear for an hour, afterwards, but damn if it wasn't the kind of fun he hadn't been able to have in the six months he'd been on this planet.

For the remaining three days, his sparring nights would be dedicated to whoever grabbed him up. This week in particular, once Yang had learned through Weiss how he intended to split his training days, she gobbled up the first available opportunity to get him into the ring, where they promptly spent the rest of the night punching the hell out of eachother in what Aldric found to be a remarkably effective stress reliever. The day after that, he ran into Pyrrha again, and they spent much of the night at the school's target range, swapping tips and advice in regards to their ranged shield work, where Aldric learned that Pyrrha actually had much the same problems he did: She couldn't throw or aim her shield worth a damn, it was all her semblance. Though, when she brought it up, they did spent a good chunk of time fiddling with Aldric's cybernetic arm, determined to figure out if there wasn't some way to make it to the legwork for him, and free up his semblance to focus on something else. Nothing came of it, but it felt fun to geek out over their shared arsenal.

When Saturday hit and the classes let out for the weekend, a great deal of the students flooded out of Beacon's halls and flocked to the city of Vale, down below. Aldric actually used the opportunity to swing through the Garden and get an update on his eyes, which were still a few months out, though his spare arm was finished, and he finally got himself a damn voice modulator. After that, the remaining three parts of his team tracked him down and spent a half of the afternoon dragging him from store to store, with Ecru determined to introduce some color to his wardrobe and having wrangled the other two into supporting her.

Aldric was pretty sure she was partially doing this just to see how high his bullshit tolerance was, and because the entire team wanted to see where their fearless leader drew the line and what they had to do to get a rise out of him, probably because of his little speech their first day, at dinner. Aldric promptly called their bluff, and turned it right the fuck around on them, spending the rest of the day clad in a combination of clothing that was practically determined to be an unrestrained assault on the eyes of anyone who looked at him: His 'signature' black longcoat, a periwinkle T-shirt just visible underneath it, hot pink pants, a neon green pair of sunglasses, and a tie-dye headwrap. Combined with the rest of his team's usual attire, with Ecru's gray tunic and bright shorts, Srebro's blue hoodie and brown pants, and Myrtle's bright white shirt and dark jeans, GEMS actually did a convincing job of trying to represent the multiple colors the team's name suggested.

That they ran into RWBY after finishing the ensemble, and that Yang and her sister literally fell over laughing, proved to his team that there was little Goud Etiolate wasn't willing to do for the sake of a good joke. Afterwards, both teams got dinner, and again, Aldric found himself having a kind of fun that he hadn't had the opportunity to indulge in since his plane crashed. Even fucking with Emerald hadn't had the same kind of magic.

And apparently, they weren't the only ones who got an eyeful of his new - albeit decidedly temporary - outfit, because as he geared up for his first training session with Weiss, he got a text message he'd been expecting for a few days, now.

-Message reci~eved! Head to Vale Police's Internal Affairs office tomorrow morning, ask to meet with Mister Reeman, and PLEASE wear this sexy little getup again! ;)
(Attachment: AttentionGrabber1{.}JPG)

To which, he responded:

Mystery Man? Actually, I find that entertaining, so I'll let it slide.
Also: You should've seen the hot pink hot pants they wanted me to wear.
Also Also: Holy shit, you're telling me he has Vale's IA in his pocket? Damn. Give the man some props.

And as he finished securing his dark armor to his chest and slid his shield out of his locker, he got her counter.

-Well, we figured it would be a better idea to meet there than, say, Mountain Glenn or the Garden - both places a certain someone could potentially find you in.
And in case you're wondering: If your first stunt was a surprise, then he didn't see this one coming at all. He is impressed.
Keep up the good work. ;)

He let the conversation die there, and found his way to one of Beacon's amazingly numerous sparring rings, which, likely because the staff wouldn't want the students walking around the entire campus with their weapons, were within eyesight of the locker rooms. One of the things he'd spent a night doing was adding a few things to his white cane, such that he could attach it to the lightsaber's hilt, and give an excuse as to why he always needed it on him, which only worked to benefit him, as he knew that Weiss' reaction to his 'sword' being his cane would be amusing.

He found her waiting at the door to the small, dome-shaped building, and when she saw him coming, she smiled, and gave him a wave. "Ash!" She called out, attracting his attention.

"Well I certainly hope that is who I think it is." Aldric responded, as he grew closer. "You'll see I made myself decent for you." He said, with a grin, as he patted down his less gaudy outfit.

Weiss gave him a warm smile, as she nodded. "I wasn't going to say anything, though I will say I admire you for entertaining your team like that." She said, before swiping her scroll over the door, and pushing it open. "After you!"

He thanked her and strolled inside, "speaking of entertaining our teams, tensions still high with yours?" He drawled, "I... Well, think, at least, I noticed a lot more smiles than I expected from our last conversation."

Weiss nodded once, "yes, you did." She said, "I took your advice to heart, and put a little more effort into thawing things out with the others. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see that it worked, you've displayed more than once that you're a lot wiser than your... Shall I say 'entertaining'? Exterior may let on."

Aldric merely adopted a smug, shit-eating grin, "I have no idea what you're talking about." He said, in an obviously false tone. "So I know why I'm here." He added, over the clicking of his cane, as they reached the ring, and climbed up. "But how about you? What're those 'things' you noticed during the entrance exam?"

"Stamina, mostly." Weiss said, though her tone was of one trying to make light of her weaknesses, as though to suggest she knew about them and had them under control. "I've found multiple times now that I can fight well enough, but if I take hits, they stack up fast, and I cannot compensate."

Aldric brandished his shield a bit, before he set it down next to the ring. "That's why I fight with a shield. Turn my defense into an offense, and vice versa." He slid off his coat, and Weiss' brief expression of surprise, at the sight of his arm, didn't escape him. "So you're trying to learn how to take hits?" And when she affirmed his words, he said, "well... Dunno if you can tell, but -" He tapped his metal arm with the white cane, "that's something I can do pretty good."

She politely deflected his jab, "I had noticed during the exam." She said, "you fight a lot like Yang does, allowing attacks to breach your defenses to open up opportunities to deal more damage than you receive." She adjusted her weapon, preparing it for what was to come. "Would you happen to have a semblance like hers?"

"What, the take more, deal more, thing?" Aldric shook his head, "nah, nothing so grandiose. I just... Use something really simple, really creatively." He adjusted his grip on his cane, holding it by the saber's hilt, and positioning it as a sword. "You'll have to figure it out."

Weiss caught onto this, "is... Your cane, the weapon you're hoping to learn?" She asked, cautiously, as she took up a light stance of her own.

"Hm?" Aldric grunted, "oh, no." And with a pulse of his semblance, the cane popped off and rolled off to the side of the ring. "This is!" And he clicked the button.

Zhoom went the weapon from a galaxy far, far away, bathing the both of them in bright blue light. Weiss' expression dropped to one of equal parts interest and surprise at the sight of the column of heavily contained plasma.

"Impressive." She finally admitted, as Aldric made damn sure the thing was on its low-power setting. "What do you call it?"

"Ah, it doesn't have a name yet, I finished it just the other day." Aldric responded, "got some others... Kind of like it, back in Mistral, but not quite like this one. You can understand why I'd want to be very careful with it."

"Indeed." Said Weiss, with a nod, "let's get started... Show me what you can do with it today, and we can work from there."

Aldric nodded, having to suppress a monumental urge to swap his blade to his left hand. He really wanted to set up as elaborate of an 'I am not left handed' reference as he could, but two things held him back from doing so. One: Weiss wouldn't get it. Two: Left handed or right, she'd kick his ass anyways, she was a better sword fighter than him.

So he lifted his sword in front of him, mirroring her stance keeping his grip firm, as the two slowly approached eachother. Her eyes were locked to his glasses, and her jaw was set. When they came close enough that the tips of their blades were just past each other, Weiss snapped onto the offensive, thrusting forward; but Aldric swiped his blade in a low arc, batting hers aside and then swinging it back around in a wide circle. It would have hit her cheek, had she not immediately sprang back, causing it to fly right past her. She then swung her blade in a wide arc from left to right, hitting his and ensuring he overextended and lost his balance, filling the air with the zapping, grinding sound that came with her steel striking his plasma. Sparks flew from the brief impact of her blade against his, and when he stumbled, she used the chance to jab at him, but she hadn't exactly how thorough his awareness was, and when he saw the blade coming, he dropped to his hands and it merely stabbed the air where he had been.

With a pulse of his semblance and a swing of his legs, Aldric spun around in a wide circle, his cybernetic hand anchoring him to the ground and his sword-arm swinging up, catching her blade and forcing it away before she could slash down at him. With a push of his arm, he lunged back up into the air and flipped to his feet, quickly grabbing his blade with both hands and swinging it horizontally. The snow-haired swordfighter, however, reacted faster than he predicted, and swung her blade around in a wide, vertical circle, catching his and smacking it away. Aldric spun into the attack and swung again, but Weiss parried this just as easily as the last, before taking her chance and thrusting forward, her blade catching his armor and sending him stumbling back several steps.

It appeared that she struggled against the urge, and lost, as Weiss grinned and said, "you've never fought with a sword before, have you Ash?"

"I mean..." Aldric shrugged, and indicated the edge of the ring with his blade, "I have a shield, and I punch people with it. Should say all that needs to be said." He'd used an axe before, though, but the decision almost killed him just as much as it saved him. "But..." He added, straightening up, with a flourish of his blade, "I like to think I'm a fast learner." Two things he'd used that brief little encounter for: To get an understanding for what an impact against another sword felt like, and to get a feel for the weight of his saber.

The former, he found surprising: Beyond the arrested momentum that came with the saber hitting a physical object, when her blade hit is, he didn't feel it, as he would if it had been the plane's fire axe, or the vibrations that came from someone punching his shield; and for the latter, he was still intrigued, but not as surprised, to learn that most of the sword's weight was in the hilt, which made sense - the 'blade' was just a small column of ionized plasma. It had mass and it had weight, but not that much; and if he remembered correctly, the way lightsabers worked in the lore, was that they - somehow - only ever had a physical presence when making contact with another object. But he learned something else from this: While not impossible, it would be incredibly difficult for him to jar this thing from his grip if he hauled off and whacked someone with it, and with most of the weight right there in his hand, that meant he'd have a lot more control over where he swung it and how fast - as opposed to Srebro, who let the titanic weight of her buster sword, and momentum, do most of the work for her.

So, he dropped his two-handed grip and adopted a one-handed stance, both to build a bit of experience, and to get a feel for it. Weiss went on the attack this time, thrusting her sword forward and launching across the ring as she did. Aldric parried her attack and followed it up with a horizontal swing, but Weiss ducked underneath it and slashed upwards, her attack barely being caught by a downward, awkward spin his blade. She hopped a few steps back and adopted a neutral stance, sword held out in front of her.

After another pause, she charged again, moving faster than she had up until now, her arms almost a blur as she swung for Aldric's left side. He grunted, bringing his sword around to defend it, and with his blade connected to hers in a shower of sparks and a clap of grinding metal and plasma, he thrust upward and around in a wide arc, slamming her blade onto the ground to his right, before swinging his at an upward angle. He just barely felt it drag against something, but Weiss dodged out of the way, spinning around him like a top; he almost wasn't able to bring his blade up and over his head to cover her two rapid slashes at his back. With his deep blue blade pointed at the ground, Aldric twisted around to meet Weiss and, with a circular flourish, brought his blade down to her shoulder, but it was just as he was about to connect, that he realized what he'd done, and Weiss' blade surged upwards, the tip digging far enough into his throat to make her point, but not enough to break skin and draw blood.

Aldric nodded to the side, and clicked the button on his saber, the plasma blade sheathing itself with a metallic 'zip'.

Weiss grinned, and straightened up, lowering Myrtenmaster with a respectful nod. "A sword fight is a lot different than a fist fight, Ash." She said, "you can take a punch well and good, but those tend to give you bruises, versus a sword, where every hit that connects makes you bleed. In a duel against another swordsman, you're as much maneuvering your blade to lock down or defend against theirs, as you are to injure them."

"Yeah, I figured that one out quick." Aldric said, rubbing at his prickling throat. "Despite hitting me more often than I came close to you, I'm pretty certain you defended against more attacks than you launched."

She nodded, "if I had to estimate, I would say eight out of every ten sword strokes aren't to maim the enemy, but to defend against what they throw your way... At least if you fight like we have been today, with solely a blade."

And that reminds me... "Yeah, but you see... There's one thing you missed, during all of this."

Weiss blinked, "I'm sorry?"

Aldric gave her a sneer from over his shoulder, raising his cybernetic hand and clenching his fist, and making the power glove nanites on the chainsaw inside glow bright blue, giving the appearance that he was activating an electromagnet. "I am not a sword fighter." And no sooner did he finish speaking, than did his shield come flying in, bashing Weiss on the back of the head and flipping end over end, before affixing itself to his arm.

Yeah, he figured out how to do it anyway.

Weiss seemed to find it entertaining as well, as she repressed a grin and regained her footing. "You, my dear lady, sacrificed sure footing for a killing stroke." He explained, as he bounced the shield off the ground a few times, dribbling it as though it were a basketball. "Never realized I was pushing you over to where my shield was, and was turning your back to it." He said, planting his fist on his back and bending over until it popped. "See, I learned as much as you taught. You like to use your opponents' momentum against them, deflect their attacks with as little strength required on your end. And from what I've figured out... " He chuckled, indicating his throat, "that's damned invaluable in a sword fight... But let me ask you: How many opponents have you fought in your life, that only used a sword?" He asked, twitching his shield back and forth, for effect.

She nodded to the side, conceding his point. "I would list my sister, but she uses a sword and a dagger."

"My point." Aldric rolled the shield back across the ring, it sliding off the edge and nestling back into his coat. "I've only met two - and the second uses a sword so..." He paused to cut himself off from saying 'god damn', half because Weiss wouldn't know who 'god' was, and half because he remembered what Pyrrha had said, and the lengths she'd gone to to keep him from spewing profanity at this poor girl. "Huge, we'll call it, that your 'minimum required force' thing wouldn't have a chance at all of working." Especially when Srebro added her semblance to the mix, and nullified whatever Weiss could have done in the first place. "Everyone else has a weapon with at least one or two functions beyond the obvious. So as good as you are in a straight up duel..." One last time, he rubbed his throat, a grin on his face. "In a fight... You've got some work to do."

"What would you suggest?" Weiss asked, as she rubbed at the back of her head.

"Well, when you've got aura, I'd say use those glyphs of yours..." He then pantomimed a few attacks being stopped in midair, "predict where they'll hit, and defend. That'll let you keep using your style, as it should open up your opponent for a counter attack, which you excel at." He said, "but when you're out of aura and your semblance is shot?" He nodded his head to the side, "I'll never side against investing in some kind of armor, even if it's just a kevlar lining in your coat... But aside from that?" He indicated his obvious injury, "learn to take a hit. Sometimes giving your opponent what they want, is exactly what you want."

Weiss' brow twitched downward, "make them sacrifice their footing, for a killing stroke."

Aldric snapped his fingers and pointed at Weiss, "she's learning!" He said in a singsong voice. "Now..." Zhoom. "Let's go again?"

Weiss nodded, Aldric noting a hint of respect in her blue eyes, and after another moment's pause, the two charged again. Weiss went on the offensive, and Aldric did as she suggested, swinging his sword up to defend himself first, and do everything else second.

'Everything else', in this instance, being planting his fist in her gut with a loud 'thud'.

Her aura flashed as it defended against the blow, but it still caught her unprepared just enough for her to double over and start coughing. Aldric let her recover, and he noticed her give him a sideways look, eyebrow raised and the corner of her mouth turned upwards.

Aldric shrugged, "hey, I did tell you." He said, "and I'd say 'keep your eye on your opponent's weapons', but uh -" He indicated his eyes, as Weiss stood back up. "I'd be one to talk."

Wiess' grin became more pronounced, as she readied her sword. "I must admit..." She launched forward, and Aldric had to parry three rapid horizontal swings, and then catch a downward chop that would have split his head in two. "You make light of your condition very easily!" Weiss called out, over the sound of her blade struggling against his screeching plasma.

"Way I see it -" Aldric then lunged to the side and cut the power to his sword; Weiss was completely unprepared, leading her to overextend completely, stumbling forward as her sword scraped against his shoulder, and he rammed his pommel into her back with a swift chopping motion, before lighting the blade up again. "- if you can learn to laugh at yourself, you can learn to laugh at anything." He said, swinging his sword back and forth in a figure eight, as Weiss got back to her feet. "And this world is entirely too serious to be taken seriously. You need to find something to laugh at."

Weiss straightened up, Myrtenmaster's chambers revolving as she did. "And that something is you?" She said, before three bright white glyphs appeared in the air around her, one to her front, and two to her sides.

She thrust her sword forward, and several chunks of ice shot out of the glyphs. Aldric grinned and flipped the switch to 'high power', before batting several of them out of the air, letting one shatter against his metal arm with a loud 'crash', and then catching the final one as though it were an oversized football. "Yeah!" He said, as though it were obvious, chucking the ice out of the ring and listening to it shatter against the distant wall. "I can turn my previous statement right around: When you laugh at yourself, it'll encourage others to start laughing too." He said, making sure to dial down the power again. "And the world needs more people laughing."

Weiss nodded, her face warming up with a smile, as though she'd just had a genuine epiphany. "Explaining the clothes, earlier today." She said, as the glyphs vanished.

Aldric hummed the affirmative, and charged Weiss, blade dragging on the ground. "My team -!" He swung upwards, Weiss parried his blow and followed it up with a stab, but Aldric lunged out of the way and brought his blade back down, "- tried to find out -" She gracefully spun out of the way of his attack, and the two clashed again, swiping and stabbing at eachother, though Aldric still finding this snow-haired huntress un-fucking-touchable! "- where exactly I'll draw the line!" So he cheated a bit, and when she swung at him next, he used his semblance both to bend out of the way, and curve Weiss' sword away just enough to make her think she'd made a mistake, and then jabbed her chest with the tip of his saber.

She gasped in pain and stepped back, pressing her free hand to her chest, as she looked down at herself, seeming to be quite surprised that her clothes weren't smoldering. She looked back up, "that's low power?"

"High power would've cut your sword into pieces long ago." Aldric responded, with another flourish, as he cast a glance to her blade, which was radiating quite a bit of the heat it had taken over the course of the fight.

Her eyes flicked over to his shield, and then back to him. "Could it cut your shield?"

Aldric paused, frowning a moment in thought, before his grin returned. "Ain't that a question people want answered?" He voiced, "I built this one with the idea in mind that, if I pulled it out, it's me making a statement: The gloves are off. Be it me or the Grimm I'm fighting, someone is going to die." He nodded off to the side, "as opposed to my shield, which is much more of an all purpose tool. Defending, attacking, bouncing off of people's heads." He grinned.

And so did she, "and I assume your team learned you're one to call bluffs?"

Aldric chuckled blithely, as he clenched his blade in a two handed grip, "Weiss, if you knew what my limits were, you'd be shocked." And the two charged eachother again.

Their training session continued like this, with this back and forth, until Aldric had depleted Weiss' aura through sheer attrition, and he'd gotten more than a fair few nicks and scratches for his trouble, versus him giving her a grand total of seven minor burns and bruises through his swordwork. Now seated outside in the cool night air, each nursing fresh bruises, though Weiss was the only one of the two seeming winded for the experience, and both holding large bottles of water.

"I must admit, Ash." She said, after a reserved swig of water - as opposed to Aldric, who was practically slamming his. "My father liked to say that one can only truly know something if they are capable of teaching it. But, considering what teachers I've had over the years, that prospect didn't really appeal to me."

"Oh?" Aldric hummed, "must've had some bad teachers, then."

She nodded, "quiet mornings and afternoons spent under the watchful eye of my tutors, both of us not really wanting to be there. Me because my grades were checked religiously, and them because if my grades dipped, that was their job and their reputation."

"I can see how that colored your view." Aldric deadpanned.

"Indeed." She said, taking another dainty sip, though she almost sloshed quite a bit of it down when Aldric, finished with his water, crushed his bottle with a loud plastic 'crunch'. "But I must admit, I had far more fun than I thought I would. I don't think I would mind if each of our sessions going forward will be like tonight."

Is this flirting? Or is this her being human? Aldric played it safe, "don't speak too soon, lady. I may disappoint you yet."

"And thus returns your modesty." Weiss hummed.

The next morning, while the rest of his team enjoyed sleeping in on a day off, Aldric woke up, bright and ugly, before the sun. To avoid waking up his team, he gathered his things and used the communal bathroom to do his morning routine, though he did leave them a note saying he had some errands he wanted to run in Vale, and he put Srebro in charge just to mess with her. He ran into a few early risers, but no one he recognized, and just as the first glimpse of the sun could be seen on the horizon, Aldric took the 'express' route to Vale proper.

As he flew to Vale, he donned his Nathan Drake getup, and fastened the voice modulator to his throat, though he had decided to leave his coat back at Beacon, replacing it with a long-sleeved shirt, tucked into his waistband; as much as he loved the damn thing, it was pretty easy to identify, and god forbid Cinder just happened to be walking around. When he landed, he found Torchwick and Neo already there, waiting for him and Taurus, and all but confirming that Neo had intentionally not told him when to meet, just because she could. It amazed him how Torchwick, basically Vale's Al Capone, was able to just hang out in an office of Internal Affairs because he wanted to. That was power, right there. Aldric took a few moments to prepare himself, before he landed in front of the IA building and waltzed inside. He'd left his weapons, save the lightsaber, back at Beacon, primarily because he knew he could literally summon them whenever he wanted, with the backup Power Glove canisters he had.

After speaking to the investigator at the front desk and giving him Neo's pass-phrase, Aldric was guided up to the top floor, and let inside.

Torchwick took one look at him and raised his eyebrow, "a taste for the theatrics, Mister... Mask?" He asked, flicking some ash from the end of his cigar.

"Drake." Aldric rumbled lowly, his scrambled voice filling the room. "Wait until you see him." Aldric said, as Neo sauntered over to him, hips swaying and arms held out to the side, expectantly.

Aldric gave her what he wanted, and in the blink of an eye, she gasped, gave him an impressed grin, an arced eyebrow, and slid out of his arms, his lightsaber in her hands. Torchwick watched with amusement, as she indicated it, and then Aldric.

"Finally decided to swap out the shield then? Or decided walking around with a red white and blue Frisbee would make it too easy to recognize you?" Torchwick voiced, giving his cane a brief spin, as Neo inspected the saber.

Aldric reached for it and firmly pushed it away from Neo's face, "merely added to arsenal." He said, using his semblance to pry her hand open and slide the hilt out of her grip.

"And what is it, if I may ask?"

"Lethal." Aldric clipped it back on his belt, as Neo pouted at his blatant cheating.

Torchwick hummed, "and not a single prompt needed from she or I." He nodded his head, and took another drag from his cigar. "And here I had thought that, just maybe, we'd gotten a glimpse at all you were capable of. Hm, I must admit, Mister 'Drake'. You never cease to amaze."

Neo agreed with an emphatic nod, as she wrapped her arms around one of Aldric's, hung off of him, and gave Torchwick a pointed look, as though to say 'I told you so'. Torchwick raised his hands in surrender, it being clear to Aldric that the two had had this argument once before.

"Word to the wise, Mister Drake." Torchwick said, before making several gestures with his hands, as he spoke. "It would behoove you to learn to sign..." He indicated Neo. "Especially as she sinks her claws ever further into you."

It took less self control than he would have guessed to not flinch at the feeling of a hand giving him a pinch below the belt and behind his back; Aldric chalked it up to knowing Neo too well. "Keep in mind."

"So how did you gain his alliance, then?" Torchwick asked, "even I find the White Fang exceedingly frustrating to infiltrate."

"Gave him something he wanted."

Torchwick hummed, as Aldric sensed Taurus approaching the building, taking the indirect approach, from the alleys. "Hm, sounds familiar."

"It does." Aldric rumbled. "He's here." He said, as Taurus slipped in through the alleyway entrance.

"Oh what I could do with a person of your sensory perception." Torchwick hummed, putting out his cigar.

Taurus, and his guard, were soon led to their room, and Neo disentangled herself from Aldric, and took her leave of the three, to stand outside with Taurus' lieutenant, who sported a new-looking chainsword. The redhead frowned upon entering the room, turning from Aldric, to Torchwick, and then back to him.

"How about we stand on equal grounds?" He suggested. "And bare heads?"

"And be without my lovely hat for even a moment?" Torchwick tsked, "oh no, my good sir, I spent a healthy sum upon it, it deserves to be seen." Though he didn't even bother masking his sneer, as both eyes turned to Aldric.

Fuck it, they already know. And he'd checked both of them, the room they were in, and even their guards and the hallway outside, for any kinds of recording or listening devices, and found none; everyone seeming to understand that bringing their scrolls with them was a dumb idea.

Aldric shrugged, and slid his shemagh off, again noting the irony of openly displaying his identity to the two people who would be most likely to betray it, and keeping it hidden from the two who would die to protect it. Maybe he really was Batman? He set the shemagh, mask, and voice modulator on the table in front of him, deposited his blade and Power Glove next to them, and took a seat.

"You'll forgive me if I keep the glasses." Aldric slid them down to show the blank pits in his head, and neither of them argued, as Torchwick planted his hat on the table in front of him, leaned his cane up against it, and took his seat, and Taurus slid his mask off, leaned his katana against the table, and took his seat; Torchwick extended a hand for him to shake, but he just glared at the gangster until he shrugged and backed off.

"You're at Beacon, now." Taurus began, crossing his arms and turning to Aldric.

"You know, I had much the same question, Mister Drake." Torchwick crossed his hands on the table and leaned forward.

"You two already know what she wants to do." Aldric said, "and what she wanted to do beforehand."

"The Maiden." Taurus nodded, an action mirrored by Torchwick.

"I told you she killed her, and more. The 'more' comes from her having stolen the Maiden's powers." Taurus' scowl deepened, and Torchwick blinked, not having expected this development. "But a Huntsman interrupted us before she could finish it, and took the Maiden. Maiden's in a coma now, I'm at Beacon to find her, for when we all -" He indicated the three of them, "- invade."

"And, question - if I may." Torchwick raised his hand ostentatiously. "Why exactly does she want to haul off and invade Beacon Academy?"

"She wants power." Aldric responded, "killing the Maiden and getting the rest of her abilities will get her that. But she's just one piece in a far greater game."

"And that is?" Said Taurus.

"Full-on genocide." Aldric deadpanned. "All of ours mutual boss believes in the deity brothers. Each of the four academies supposedly houses a relic of the brothers. She kills the maidens, steals their power, destroys the academies, takes the relics, and then." Snap. "Everything. Gone."

"You're serious." Torchwick scoffed, "the Maidens are one thing, but gods? Where's your proof?"

"I've spoken to Ozpin and he straight-up told me."

That got their attention, Torchwick appeared to be openly reevaluating his opinion of Aldric, and even Taurus seemed to be impressed.

"You went to Beacon's headmaster." Taurus reaffirmed, with a nod.

Aldric indicated Torchwick, "he likes to say he only bets on the winners." He said, "I play to win."

"Well I'll say." Torchwick whistled, "and you're alive, too. Am I to understand that means you've secured his alliance, as well?"

Aldric gave Torchwick a dull look. "I walked into the Headmaster's office and told him I was a spy working for his mortal enemy."

"Point taken." Torchwick leaned back, "so we're to understand that the deity brothers and their relics... The Wizard and the four Maidens - they all exist?"

Aldric would leave the Masters out of the conversation for the time being, and decided to not present his slowly forming theory that perhaps the Deity Brothers had perhaps been incredibly powerful aura users, who were misunderstood to be gods; instead he nodded. "I'm operating under the assumption that they do."

"Entertain us for another minute." Torchwick requested, "because, the two of us - we're not necessarily out of the line of fire in this, but we're not standing in front of the barrels with enormous targets on our faces either. You play a dangerous game, Mister Drake, and the more we learn about you, the more fire we realize you are playing with." Taurus nodded along with what the gangster was saying, his frown having faded away. "So why?"

"Because we all have things we want to do with our lives, gentlemen. And everyone being dead..." He hissed, and shook his head. "That kind of gets in the way of that." He said. "You." He nodded to Torchwick, "you have a taste of power, and you want more. You have fingers in every pie in Vale and have connections outside of it; Cinder promised you more connections but failed to add that if she had her way, she'd be killing them all within a decade, at most." He turned to Taurus, "you want equal rights and higher status for all faunus, not just some backwater country no one cares about and fewer bother to invest in. Cinder assured you you both would benefit, in that your peoples' power would be seen the world over, but failed to mention how fleeting that power would be." He opened his arms to indicate himself, "then there's me, the ever-loving no-eyed Thing. I just want to go home, but she'd have it burned and all of its people slaughtered, because 'fuck you, that's why'.

"We all have everything to lose by fighting for her, and everything to gain by fighting against her." He indicated Torchwick again, "imagine the ruined criminal infrastructures everywhere from Vale to Atlas, and the favors you'll get above board and below, for being known as one of the people who helped tear her down." Then to Taurus, "and I've already explained what you could get out of it. You'd practically be messianic to your people. You might not even need to war against the humans in the first place, and if you did, there wouldn't be a single faunus who would say no to their hero... And imagine how different you would look like, to you-know-who. You might even be validated to her - all the things you did that she disagreed with, painted in a new light. And me? I'd get to go home. Retire. Tell my Mom I love her. Not work another day in my life.

"But to do that, gentlemen, we'd be playing an entirely different game." He said, leaning forward, and resting his elbows on the table. "With entirely different rules. We'd have to be much more smart about every move we make. Play everything more careful."

Taurus immediately fired back with, "smart like walking into a sworn enemy's office and telling him you're spying against him?" And Torchwick concurred.

Aldric looked to Torchwick, "how's the coat I ruined?" And then to Taurus, "you remember the bombs?" They both gave their own acknowledgements, conceding his point. "I play the game as it is and as I see it. I see opportunities, I take them. And I never do anything without a plan, a contingency, and an exit strategy." He looked past the both of them, indicating the guards standing outside. "Something you both seem to agree with me on." He leaned back in his chair.

"And how would you 'exit' the both of us betraying you?" Taurus challenged. "Let's say... Just for a moment... One or the both of us doesn't believe you."

Torchwick sat back, hiding a grin behind a gloved hand, knowing what would come next. Aldric humored the gangster, and lifted a hand, thumb and forefinger extended, and slowly pressing together. Taurus' frown instantly returned, and without breaking eye contact, he rested his hand on the hilt of his blade.

"I would find your lack of faith disturbing." Aldric responded, before letting go. "And I already told you my exit strategy."

"Quite interesting to see someone else on the end of that." Torchwick hummed. "His throat didn't even move!"

"You really think Ozpin and his people will take you?"

"With what I have, they definitely would." Aldric nodded, "and I sincerely hope you weren't trying to confess, Mister Taurus. I felt bad about the..." He tapped his fingers together.

Taurus rolled his eyes, "devil's advocate. I assume you know the virtue of playing that role."

Aldric nodded, "keep the bases covered." He said, "so are we in agreement?"

The three of them exchanged glances, before Taurus spoke up. "If we're going to work together... I think we'll need to agree on an open flow of information." He said, "this war you're proposing, it's not one we would have a remote chance of winning if we didn't trust and work with our allies."

"Said by the terrorist, to the crime boss and the up-and-coming war criminal, inside a thoroughly dirty police station." Torchwick deadpanned.

"I don't disagree." Aldric said, cautiously. "But I would also question whether or not you would really give us everything as you came across it."

"In any other situation you would have a point." Taurus countered, "but I'll say it again: This isn't a war that we can fight with our allies at arm's length. If it meant my people surviving, I would do anything for them."

"Oh anything?" Taurus seemed gleeful, "then do I have a few names for you!"

"Prove it." Aldric said. "We all have a secret. At least one thing we don't want getting out. But if you want us to share them, you have to be willing to give what you'll receive, as well as be aware of the risks."

Torchwick was actually the first one to speak, scoffing, shaking his head, and saying, "Jacques Schnee is helping bankroll my cleaning Vale of all its Dust."

Taurus and Aldric turned to eachother, "I could have prevented the event that I used to galvanize my faction of the White Fang."

All eyes on Aldric,"there's a certain kind of dust, with magical properties, theorized to have come from another planet with life." He patted himself. "I'm from that planet."

There were a few moments of dead silence, before Taurus turned to Torchwick, and Aldric followed his gaze. Torchwick shrugged, "the profit he would accrue by 'graciously' buying out the devastated businesses would far exceed what he shall lose by funding my temporary hiccup, and keeping me quiet. Especially when he buys the location of all of that pre-refined, ready-to-ship Dust."

Back to Taurus, who offered up: "I desperately want a war with the humans." as an explanation.

Hm... Aldric held up a hand. "I'm..." He didn't have magic to call on, but he'd long since learned how to this particular trick without it. "A lot..." He sped up the atoms in the space above his outstretched palm, causing the air to combust. "Like that wonderful wizard." And then he stopped that atomic movement, creating a fire-shaped chunk of ice.

There were several moments where nothing was said, before Torchwick clapped his hands. "So!" He declared, "this is what trust feels like." He squirmed in his coat, as though uncomfortable in his own skin. "Ooh... Feels... Strange." Though he didn't drop his sneer as he said this.

Taurus turned his gaze to Aldric, "wizard or not. Alien or not. When this is over, when our mutual enemy is dead and gone... You're still human." He looked to Torchwick, "the both of you are."

"Hm." Torchwick grunted, "quite. Now about those names I mentioned, consider this a show of faith..." He said, pulling out a piece of paper and a pen, and writing a single word on them: ALBAIN, and sliding it across the table to Taurus. "I did, after all, say it was frustrating to infiltrate your organization. Not impossible."

Aldric nodded, still able to accept Taurus' conditions. "One last item of business, before we go our separate ways." All eyes returned to him, as he leaned forward onto the table. "What would you two say if I could set up a meeting with our righteous counterparts?"

And now... Aldric thought, later that night, for part two of my master plan!

He found upon arriving at Beacon Tower, that there was a note attached to the elevator door, simply telling him to take it down, as opposed to up. It piqued Aldric's curiosity, and then secured his attention when he found his scroll could do just as Ozpin's had, earlier that week, and could actually order the elevator to send him down. Aldric followed Ozpin's instructions, and after a lengthy elevator ride, found himself in Beacon's vault; Ozpin was at its far end, hands behind his back, a deep frown framing his face as he stared forlornly at Amber.

Oh, this isn't going to be good. How did Deadpool put it? Life was an endless series of trainwrecks broken up by brief, commercial-like breaks of happiness? Aldric agreed, if only because of the look on Ozpin's face pretty much told him that he'd be getting some bad news.

Approaching Ozpin, Aldric's voice echoed about the vault as he called out. "Ferrum's news was that bad?"

Ozpin remained silent until Aldric reached him, "the easiest to say would be that Qrow stopped by on his way through, earlier this week. I felt it prudent to show him what you showed me... His reaction was exactly what I predicted."

"Wanting my head, and looking for it in his flask?"

Ozpin nodded, "it took many hours to calm him down and bring him around to our way of thinking... In regards to what we intend to let occur... But I wonder if that plan must too change, in light of recent events." He looked down to Aldric, "have you your coverings?"

Well fuck, where's this taking me? Aldric nodded, "we've got a meeting?"

Ozpin nodded, as Aldric slid his bundled up shemagh, the mask, and the voice modulator, out of one of his pockets, and started tying them on. "The bomb made it through." He said, "we do not have a precise location due to what followed, but we know that it dropped somewhere in Anima."

"What followed?" Aldric repeated, as he fastened the modulator to his throat, and his mask to his face.

"Just yesterday, sixteen airships soared over Atlas, engaged in a heavy battle against more than twice their number of Grimm." Ozpin explained.

"Oh god."

Ozpin nodded solemnly, "whatever damage was or wasn't done by the terran bomb... It doesn't appear to have stopped Salem's capacity for launching invasions on Earth...

"Or letting them strike back."